In late April, as the legislative session was wrapping up, IFF president Wayne Hoffman suggested that we spend the month highlighting figures who faced censure and cancellation because they stood up for traditional American values. We thought it would be a wholesome alternative to a month dedicated to celebrating sexual preferences. Over the next few weeks, the whole team suggested candidates and in the end, we selected 24 on whom to focus.

Many were long dead, but some — like Riley Gaines and Tucker Carlson — were from the modern era. We honored presidents, authors, explorers, and some like Randy Weaver who just wanted to be left alone. Some of our picks were controversial, which is a good sign that we made the right choices.

There were many on our list, as well as those suggested by our readers, that we simply could not get to. We considered the many athletes and celebrities who drew fire because they spoke out against experimental vaccine mandates. We considered men such as Dr. James Watson, who discovered DNA but was canceled for talking too candidly about race, or Clint Eastwood, who has long faced opposition for holding conservative views in Hollywood.

We considered local figures such as Matthew Lohmeier, the Space Force officer, who was cashiered for writing a book about how DEI is ruining the military, and Dr. Ryan Cole, the brilliant epidemiologist who has been terribly persecuted for not toeing the line on COVID.

In addition to J.K. Rowling and H.L. Mencken, we considered authors such as Mark Twain, Tom Wolfe, and Ernest Hemingway. We also looked at Rush Limbaugh, who for many years was the lone voice of conservatism on the airwaves, as well as Peter Thiel, one of the few free-market conservatives in Silicon Valley. We also considered the 45th president himself, Donald J. Trump.

What we hope you take away from this project is that we have a lot to be proud of as Americans. Attempts to cancel the Idaho Freedom Foundation are petty compared to what these men and women faced, yet they stood strong and did not abandon their principles. All of us can take inspiration from their examples as we continue to fight for freedom and liberty in our communities today.